September  9,  2010  

 
Dear  Member  of  Congress:  
 
As  the  America  COMPETES  Act  awaits  reauthorization  on  Capitol  Hill,  we  wanted  to  share  some  
thoughts  about  the  importance  of  maintaining  U.S.  competitiveness  by  making  strong  
investments  in  our  children’s  Science,  Technology,  Engineering,  Mathematics  (STEM)  education.  
We  also  wanted  to  let  you  know  about  an  exciting  event  celebrating  women  in  technology,  
which  will  occur  this  weekend  at  our  Palo  Alto,  California  headquarters.  
 
Facebook  is  a  young,  fast-­‐growing  company  whose  mission  is  to  make  the  world  more  open  and  
connected.  We  understand  that  the  United  States  must  regain  its  economic  and  technological  
lead  investing  in  STEM  education  -­‐-­‐  from  the  elementary  to  post-­‐graduate  level  -­‐-­‐  and  that  this  
is  vital  to  energizing  the  21st  century  workforce.  
 
With  that  goal  in  mind,  we  partnered  with  Girls  in  Tech,  an  organization  focused  on  women's  
achievements  in  technology,  to  host  our  first  joint  24-­‐hour  Facebook  Developer  Garage  and  
Hackathon  on  Saturday,  Sept.  11.  Developer  Garages  are  just  like  they  sound  -­‐-­‐  places  to  
explore,  get  gritty,  and  collaborate.  These  grassroots  events  happen  around  the  world  and  
always  involve  the  local  developer  community.  Hackathons  allow  developers  to  code  
throughout  the  night  and  come  up  with  new  ideas  and  concepts.  
 
The  shortage  of  students  entering  STEM  careers  has  long  been  recognized  in  Washington,  
Silicon  Valley,  and  beyond.  According  to  the  National  Center  for  Education  Statistics,  U.S.  high  
school  seniors  recently  tested  below  the  international  average  for  21  countries  in  math  and  
science  and  fewer  American  students  than  ever  are  graduating  from  college  with  math  and  
science  degrees.  The  situation  is  not  much  better  at  the  higher  educational  levels.  
 
These  disparities  are  striking,  especially  because  the  nation’s  tech  community  is  constantly  
seeking  to  import  additional  tech-­‐trained  employees  because  our  country  is  not  producing  
enough  of  them.  Surely,  we  can  make  America  more  competitive  by  training  more  American  
students  to  fill  these  demanding  and  high-­‐value  jobs.  
 
This  weekend’s  Facebook  Developer  Garage  is  one  small  way  of  encouraging  women  to  be  part  
of  the  more  than  one  million  innovators  and  entrepreneurs  who  have  built  hundreds  of  
thousands  of  applications  on  the  Facebook  platform.  For  a  peek  inside  the  event,  watch  
Facebook  Live  at  2  p.m.  PT  on  Saturday  for  a  special  “Women  in  Tech”  influencers  panel:  
http://apps.facebook.com/facebooklive.  
 
Sincerely,    
The  Facebook  Team  

1601 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304

650.543.4800 – tel 650.543.4801 - fax